100-Percent Cotton
10/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - "100-Percent Cotton" is the weekly blog of senior defender Jessica Cotton. The blog gives fans a look at the inner workings of the SFA soccer program and is updated weekly on Tuesdays.
With the season quickly coming to a close, we have put ourselves in a tough situation. Not only must we win the rest of our games to give ourselves a shot at the top, but we must also look toward the conference tournament.
We knew this past weekend would be a test of will, and we were ready to prepare. Tuesday, we were expecting a tough, but not deathly, practice. However, to our surprise, we had to run fitness right out of the gate. We had some team rules broken, and I am convinced we learned our lesson.
After we got done with three sets of the fitness we had a very good practice. As a team, we trained hard and stayed focus despite the exhaustion. Wednesday was nothing new. We worked on our shape and transitional formation. It was a long practice, going two hours, but we got quite a bit accomplished before traveling Thursday morning.
We were scheduled to leave Thursday at 9 in the morning. We got rolling a little late, but the bus driver sure knows how to make up some time. This trip we watched Hotel Rwanda (a few of the girls had to watch it for class), and Simon Birch, both of which are great movies! We stopped in Texarkana for lunch at Bakers Bros., a sandwich-type shop. I chose the BBQ baked potato and it was as good as I imagined!
We were quickly back on the road to Conway, Ark. We arrived at the hotel around 3:15 and immediately headed to practice. It was a short, light practice, used to get the travel out of our legs and get a feel for the field. After practice, we were given a short time to change for dinner, and then we were off. We were treated to a snazzy dinner at an Italian restaurant in the midst of a shopping center. Just after dinner, but before curfew, five of us piled onto one hotel bed to watch the gory "Saw IV." We were then scared enough to go straight to bed.
Friday started with breakfast at the hotel and down time before pre-game meal. For pre-game meal, we walked to Ruby Tuesday's. For me it was a first-time experience and I will probably be going there again someday. We walked back to the hotel and it was time to head to the field.
The game was scheduled for 4 p.m. and the weather was wonderful. We came our firing by scoring two goals in the first five minutes, compliments of Amanda Alders! The first half came to a close with us on top, 2-0, after Courtney Bauder came up with some great saves in goal!
We wanted to come out in the second half and score some more goals. Although we wanted more, Kesia Broome capped off the day by scoring the third goal and we came out with 3-0 win! Since we won, not only were we were able to go to Outback Steak House for dinner that night, but we were also able to get a Bloomin' Onion per table! It makes us so happy!
Saturday we made the trip to Shreveport and were given a few hours to shop at the Boardwalk. It was a way to get the lactic acid out of our legs, while letting us do something different than just playing soccer. That night we went to dinner at a casino buffet, and it had the best macaroni and cheese. Once back at the hotel, we had a brief team meeting, and then it was off to bed.
Sunday morning was early, with pre-game meal/breakfast at ten, and leaving Shreveport at eleven. We arrived in Natchitoches around 12:15 that afternoon with time to kill hanging out before warm-up. The game was slated for 2, and it also happened to be their senior day. That gave us more incentive to win, in order to spoil their last home game (a little mean, but anything can become motivation).
We always know that Northwestern is a tough game, but this game was back and forth the entire time. It was a hard-fought battle that saw the first half end in scoreless tie. Little did we know that at the end of regulation, the score would still be locked and the game would be decided by overtime. After two overtime periods and 110 minutes of soccer, the score would stand at 0-0, and we were still locked in a tie for third place with the Demons.
Now we are focusing on our last home stand of the season (and it feels extremely weird saying this), and, for some of us, our last two home games here at SFA. We will begin to prepare for a Lamar team who is surprising the conference and an always tough McNeese State. With a pair of wins this weekend, we would clinch a pretty good spot in the conference tournament, and might even play as a season spoiler for some.
-- SFA --
